Daniel's story

A nice walk to Lake Washington on this sunny last day of the year.  I am thankful for the adventures I had of this year.  I rang in last new Year with my European friends at the snowball in Solna. What a delightful time.  Then I went to Paris for five days where I met some interesting people on various tours.  Upon return to Seattle there was a brief break in traveling before got to French Polynesian, including Tahiti, Morrea, and Bora bora.  Swimming in the ocean at night under the southern hemisphere was really special.  Back to Seattle.  Then a three week trip to Asia starting in Vietnam.  At the vietnam lindy exchange I met a lot of people and danced a lot.  I also injured my leg and was doing things with pain.  Then to Thailand for 36 hours in bankok.  I went dancing, did a boat tour, got massages, visited temples, saw people I had met in Seattle and in Vietnam.  Then I went to Japan to start my adventure on the shikoku 88...

A little slice of Vietnam in Seattle. Lum's seafood market.  This store has grown over the years.  It is s series of additions to a retail building.  I often wonder if any of the additions had building permits.  If they did, I don't think the current use is the one that was permitted.  It reminds me of buildings I saw in Hoi An.  

Broadcast Coffee stop on the way to Lum's seafood. It is a nice walk after eating a lot of food for lunch.  I was going to take a nap, but it was such a nice day today that I had to do it 

Bob Farrell and his wife Karla came by the house for lunch.  They were joined by the Hildebrandt and Swalley familes.  It was a very nice time.  Brian has bought a house.  He is currently living there and working on it.

First night at the stormy weather dance event in Seattle. I was in the amateur Lindy hop mix and match.  The dancers were very good and I think everyone had a good time.  I know that I did.  Bryan and I had dinner in the time before the dance.  I had a salad and wine.  Super healthy!

Jorge and I visited the under ground tour today.  The guide was Adrienne.  She is an excellent guide.

The waiting room of a hospital lab is so interesting.  It is a step along the way in people searching for a way to feel better. Without facts about what is going on in someone's body, it is hard for a doctor to make a diagnosis.  I am interested in my health.  I realized that the doctor orders a test panel of basic metabolic functions.  I try to get a test more frequently than the once a year doctor check up, so I go a get lab work done.  The results come in after the visit as the results are updated. Eventally there is a final result. How are they?  Last time most of the results were within accepted ranges, and a couple were just a smidge off.  What makes the visit interesting is that everyone waits differently.  Some people calmly walk in, check in at the automated kiosk and sit down.  Other people walk in, looking dazed.  They don't see someone at the desk, and think it is a vacant office. Then they see the automated check in they loo...

Last night at the dance, a woman came to the dance with her adult daughter. Her daughter was in town visiting, and wanted to go dancing.  I danced with Sarah several times.  I was talking with her about what she viewed as the social scene at the dance. She had noticed that a lot of women who are the better dancers hang out by the stage and DJ booth. I said it seems that way.  She then said something interesting.  How does a girl get accepted into that group?  She said that she heard that teenage girls share lip gloss.  Once they share the lip gloss, then they are part of the group.  I am not sure if the women at the dance do that.  I think it is more about they are taking the same classes, or on a team together, or they developed friendships through dancing.  I think it is more than lip gloss for teenagers too.  There needs to be a shared experience. Sharing lip gloss is more of the symbol.

We went to the Astra Lumima at the Seattle Chinese Garden.  It was a very nice exhibit.  There were a lot of people.

Sausage, sauerkraut, sausage, potatoes.  All made by Fumiko.  Tasty.

Fumiko made okonomoyaki.  Tasty

We watched the movie Captain Philips last night.  I thought it was interesting the use of water canons to keep small ships from attacking bigger ships.  There was of course a social commentary segment showing the divide between those with more money and those with no ability to make money from activities that are not pirates. 

At cloud cafe.  I had the bohuehe, Jorge and Fumiko had the combo.  Mine was very spicy.  The temp was 🔥. cloud cafe  is a good restaurant for a hot meal on a cold a cold day.  We walked to Jefferson Park.  A lot of people were walking the sunny day after Christmas.

Christmas Day.  Our live Christmas tree will be planted next week.  It is a leyland cypress.  It should grow up to be tall and strong living to an old age.  Cutting down a tree and putting it in a shrine, only to burn it seems so ancient.  

Cheese fondue on Christmas Eve.  It was a nice cheese fondue.  Nice People.  Larry told his story about Julia.  I don't think I would have responded to her in the same way, that is if aI was him.  I am not him, and probably he is more compassionate than I.  

Lunch.  Mixed rice, miso soup,tempura.  Nice food

Please take me home?   I am sorry but I have nice chair at home.   Maybe you could ask to go back home?  You are too ugly, maybe you should have thought about rolling away from home chasing hot butts.   Someone may need you, but be careful,they might use you in ways you didn't expect. Probably you are near the end of life. I don't know if there is  a hospice for used chairs, but if there was, maybe it is a chair for someone at a construction site. Do you really think this is the appropriate way to treat  someone who covered your butt for many years.  Do the right thing and give it a proper send off.  Chair assisted death is perfectly legal in all fifty states 

I had a tenant move out recently.  During their stay they were very hesitant to let anyone in the apartment. It could be that they are private, or that they don't want you to see how dirty it is, or any damage they may have caused. This tenant did clean up a little.  I have seen worse and much better.  The one thing that really bothered me is I found that they not only too lol the battery out of the smoke detector, but they unplugged my it ad disconnected the power wires.  As the power goes to other smoke detectors it was a potential danger to anyone else living in the building. I get it that they the detectors are sensitive.  Closing a door to the room with the detectors from the kitchen, or making sure the fan above the stove is before cooking is the way to keep it from going off.  That was one thing the other thing was that several things were loose such as the toilet seat and the toilet to the floor.  It would have been very easy for them to ask it...

Finished off the remainder of alchol

Lemon and sugar in prickly pear completed by Jorge 

I was told by my mother today that her husband, Ed has been diagnosed with stage 3 cancer.  She didn't say what where the cancer was.  Earlier she told me that there was a cancer in his ashole.  They told him they would take it out.  My mom said they are to remove the ass hole.  U said what would they do next. She say they would replace the ass hole.  So she is getting a new ass hole to live with.  The other day she said there was cancer in the lymph nodes.  From what I can tell it doesn't sound good.  She said the doctors will have a meeting in January.  Probably they will do radiation in January. They will need to see what is going on.  I don't think I should plan many trips next year, and should go visit in February...

The annual Christmas bread with the hauges.  Caroline has gone on so Jan came.  It was a nice visit.  Frances decorated her bread. It looks nice.

Joseph to and Kat dancing together.  Bryan said he danced with kat, and was wondering what that was on her back, then realized it was a pony tail.   Nice looking pony tail.

Moonlight Cafe  food.  I had the squash soup and fumiko had the pho.  It is always a good place to have something warm on a cold day.  Fumiko went to the social security office to figure out what was going on with her Medicare application.  She brought her identity and green card as the people where saying she was not eligible.  Sorry, she has paid many years into the system.  Time for some return.

Ocha kandalikas at swing it. We sang ocha kandalikas in the magnolia Chorale.  There was a nice performance of the song during the break at the dance.  This version of ocha kandalikas was a swing version.

Ingrid and I at swing it dance.  She is born October 4, so she decided that she will live to 104. I said  let's  celebrate or 104th birthday together. I am her same age but born a bit earlier in the year so I may make her birthday. Always fun dancing with her.  She has taken up oil painting and is spending a lot of time painting.  She is still does yog

I went to a dentist today. I have been having sensitive teeth.  The filling look fine he said.  It is probably due to recession of the gums and wear at the bottom of the tooth.  It is difficult for me to eat sweet things.  I guess I will stop eating sweet things for a while.  It would probably help me lose weight and would be more healthy.  When I was twenty I stopped eating anything with added sugar.  I went about three months before I had to have a pastry.  Let's see how long I can do it now. Today is day one of my self challenge.  It helps that my teeth hurt all the time. It is a good reminder.  It is funny that two dentists say nothing is wrong, but I still have pain.  Good things sometime bring better results later. Ok. I hope I can stick it out three months.

I saw this while coming back from hot yoga.  A Christmas tree placed in the back seat of a car with the top sticking out the window.  

I joined the Magnolia Chorale the fall of 2023.  This is the program.  Singing in this choir was very satisfying.  The concert was in a church with great acoustics.  The sound was amazing.  I look forward to singing in 2024.

I have been thinking about how to let Things go away.  I bring things home thinking that I will use them, or there is some value in them.  They just hang around getting in the way.  I am putting things in a box to take to goodwill.  If there is something that has some memory associated with it I will write about it under death cleaning.  Today's box of things included things that people gave me, or things that I bought, both of which I thought I needed but I realized I didn't.  I also threw away some programs of events that I attended, but I took a photo before they went to the recycling bin. First box of stuff to go.  

The men's choir annual lunch.  It was a nice lunch.  A nice buffet at the Leif Erickson hall.  I had some nice conversations with people.

I went to the Christmas dance put on by the  Gatorboy, Sean Donovan. Santa came to the dance and was taking Christmas wishes.  Betsy said she wanted unlimited vacation.  It was fun dancing with all the ladies. Jenifer took a picture of me with Santa.  I think the selfie with her was nicer. 

I have always been somewhat engaged in physical activities , either through work, dancing,  walking or transportation via cycling.   I had always wanted to do a ramble in Europe  since I was a teenager.  In fall of 2022 I walked the Camino Santiago in Spain.  I had a lot of time to think and I talked to a lot of people.  Health is the most important thing in life.  I decided that I would change my life, and be more active. When I return I looked into yoga classes. It has been just over a year of going to yoga. Here is a me after this morning's work out.

We went for a walk at fort worden st park.  The light house is cool looking.   There was a sign about being able to stay in light houses.  We thought that it would be a good idea to do that sometime somewhere.  Maybe on our next trip.   

Nice holiday lights at the ferry dock in downtown Kingston. We had to wait for the ferry and we saw all the the lights.  

Fusion dance in Pt Townsend.  I went to a fusion dance because my friend Lisa invited us.  It was great to see her.  I also saw a fellow dancer, Mary who was at herrang last summer.  There is a dance next tuesday. It would be fun to go there. 

We went to a cafe for some dessert.  We ordered the chocolate flour less torte and coffee.  It was a nice taste.  She made the coffee when we ordered so it was fresh.  The place is pretty laid back.  People seem like they are having a good time.

We ordered a special and a vegetarian pho.  The vegetarian was nice and hot.  The special was not hot, so the meat was not cooked.  I had to put the meat in the vegetarian soup to cook it.  The soup was ok. Maybe I should have got the soup heated up.  I would not go here again.  Maybe the staff was a bit over worked, or most people order for take out and they can heat up at home.

On the pt Townsend ferry we took time to find some pieces.   When the puzzle gets to this few pieces, they start to go to gether well.   I think I found it has a lost piece as I tried every piece shaped the same in the one spot that only one piece goes.  No luck. I looked under the table in the box.  Maybe someone took it home with them.

We walked on our favorite hillside and beach route at Ft Ebey state Park.  The trail starts off at the beach and climbs up the bluff to a nice view point.  Today we could see from Mt. Baker to Mt Rainier.  The air was clean and cold, but the sun and the exercise warmed us.   It is about a five mile round trip with half up on the bluff and the return trip along the beach. The surf on the beach has a very gentle and soft waves. Puget Sound was very still. From a distance it looks like a well polished tabl e. After walking we will go back and build up the fire in the stove, heat up the soup we got the other night at the norwiegen men's choir concert and watch the sunset through the leafless trees.

In the countryside on Whidbey Island it is very quiet.  The sun was peeking out through the clouds. The shadows of this time of year are so soft.  Look at the difference between shade and sun on the driveway.  The sun provides a minor warmth, but it is welcome warmth. 

On our morning walk, we walked to the end of a country road.  The property owners set up a couple of inflatable Christmas decoration.  This dog looks so inviting that we got a selfie with it.